Donna Jordan
Lisa Taylor (Dior)
Gia and Sandy
Angeleen (Woman with horse), c. 1975
For just a few years, tragically cut short by his death in a car accident in 1981, Chris von Wangenheim was riding high as a fashion, editorial, and advertising photographer. His hard, sexy, decadent images survive among the most exemplary illustrations of the high-glamour look of the 1970s. Von Wangenheim found his form early in the decade. His sensibility precisely matched the new fashion trends, whose most distinguished photographic exponents were Helmut Newton and Guy Bourdin. Born the son of an aristocratic German officer in Berlin in 1942, von Wangenheim infused his work with the strong influence of his German roots. His pictures, like those of his hero and mentor—and fellow Berliner—Newton, carry echoes of the decadent aspects of Weimar Berlin. There are references to German Expressionist cinema in his use of low lights that cast dramatic shadows, and there is a cool, even cruel edge to his scenarios that hints at an element of cultural and personal trauma.
No comments:
Post a Comment